Making the Choice
by Allie.louuu
Summary: "Shikamaru felt a tug in his chest that he couldn't, even with an IQ of over 200, name. Yes, he thought, somewhere along the line, he, Nara Shikamaru, fell in love." ShikaTema Oneshot/Fluff. Rated T just to be safe. Enjoy!


A/N: Alrighty, this is my first Naruto fan-fic, ShikaTema is by far one of my OTPs :D So read and enjoy!

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Shikamaru woke up with a jolt, sitting straight up, his heart pounding in his chest. He struggled to keep his breathing in check. What was he dreaming about? He struggled to remember anything about what he was thinking about while he was asleep. He got more and more irritated as he _couldn't_. He gave up. What a troublesome dream. He had apparently been tossing and turning as well, his bedding was everywhere. In order to remember what the ridiculously troublesome dream was, he thought about what he was thinking about right before he fell asleep. He sighed

"Damn woman." he muttered in a slight growl. Already aware that he was indeed awake, he wasn't going to be able to fall back asleep but he was too lazy to get up, so he sat there trying to remember _any _part of the dream. He was like this for quite a while... until he got hungry. He finally sat up, and threw his feet over the side of the bed. He cursed to whichever God you prefer as his foot slammed into some unknown object on the floor. He wasn't sure about what it was really because well... he couldn't see the floor. His mother had lectured him to _no _end about it. He _may _have been a genius, but he was too lazy to do most things, such as clean. When he got into the kitchen he found a note from his parents saying that they were going to be in the market all day followed by a few chores that needed to be done around the house.

Troublesome, thought Shikamaru. He thought his parents would have given up on giving him any kind of chore due to the fact that it never got _done_. Just then an abrupt pounding at the door shook Shikamaru out of his state of thought. He knew that pounding. He also knew that in exactly 4.6 seconds Temari was going to burst through the front door of his house. Of course, he beat her too the door and opened it swiftly, right as she was crouching down with a pick lock in her hand. He opened the door with his usual bored look on his face. Temari face was blank, like she was expecting him to be mad, but she smiled slightly as she met his gaze, before her eyes wondered to his chest. That happened to be shirtless. Temari fought off a blush as the realization that he might not be _alone _hit her.

"Oh! Uh, are you alone?" Temari asked, her eyes growing wide again, this time in slight embarrassment. Why would Temari, the woman who wasn't afraid to speak her mind, get embarrassed at something like that?

"Uh, yeah. Why?" Shikamaru answered, slightly confused. Until he looked down at whatever Temari was looking at earlier. He forgot that he was shirtless. Damn.

"You sure?" She asked.

"Well this is troublesome, I just woke up. Alone." He confirmed his hand perched behind his head. He saw a wave of relief hit Temari. Why she was so relieved, the genius had _no _idea.

"Oh, okay, well I just swung by to tell you that we don't need your lazy ass at the office today." She grinned. His face twisted into a slight glare. He knew that he was lazy but he really didn't need some troublesome woman to tell him.

He tilted his head in thought at the woman; she was standing in the doorway, as if she was suddenly stuck into some awkward situation. Temari never acted this way. The blond quickly recovered from whatever was plaguing her mind and gave Shikamaru a wide grin. He felt a slight tugging in his chest, as he had whenever he saw her smile like that. He'd come to the realization that he liked the blond haired woman some time ago. Although he clearly kept that to himself. I mean, seriously? Why would a woman like _her _like a man like _him?_ He was lazy, a smart ass, too smart for his own good and didn't like putting forth too much effort.

"What?" Temari asked, looking as he went through this thought process.

"Nothing Temari. Thanks." He smiled and the blond. Her eyes were quizzical, but she didn't question him. She looked like she was about to do something but decided at the last second to retreat. All she did was nod tensely; turn on her heel and leave.

"Troublesome woman." He muttered. His hand behind his head as she shut the door. Hm. All day to himself? No work? He could very well go back to sleep. Right before he put said plan into action, his parents came through the door, their arms filled with bags of things.

"Hey lazy! You're up!" His dad boomed as he walked into to house. Beaming at his son.

"Not for much longer. I don't have to go to work today. By the way old man, thanks for letting me crash here." Shikamaru mumbled. It's not exactly like he _wanted _to be staying at his parent's house, his tiny apartment had decided to become flooded and the maintenance man had said it would take at _least_ a week to repair the stupid damage. I mean _really,_ he thought, how much damage can a little _rain_ do?

"Hn." Was all his father said in reply. What the hell was that? Who was he? Uchiha?

"Shikamaru! Come help your poor, frail, old mother!" His mother screeched from the kitchen. He sighed. This was going to turn into a 'why aren't you married and giving me grandchildren yet?' lecture, he could feel it. The old hag had tried to play matchmaker with him so many times, it wasn't even funny.

He dragged himself towards the kitchen, he heard his father chuckle behind him and resisted the urge to flip the old man off. As he entered the kitchen, he wasn't that surprised to find not only were all the things put away, but his mother was making _tea_. He sighed and sat down. Not in a particular mood to listen to her ranting. But _technically_ he was a guest and this is what guests did.

They drank tea.

"Here, Shikamaru, have some tea." The woman gently placed a cup of tea in front of him. But the tone in her voice scared Shikamaru, as it always had since he was little. It was the _you-are-going-to-hear-what-I-have-to-say-if-you-enjoy-living_ voice, followed by a death glare.

His eye twitched.

Why are there so many troublesome women in my life? He thought, shaking his head slightly.

"So, you are never going to guess who I saw on our way back." Yoshino commented, trying to get him to look at her. It worked, he prayed to whichever God you prefer that it wasn't Temari.

The woman glared at her son. Demanding some sort of response.

"Hn?" Shikamaru grunted, shifting and keeping his eyes fixed on his tea. Now _he _was the one sounding like Sasuke.

"That lovely young lady from Suna. Temari, I believe." She said through clenched teeth.

Shikamaru's eyes shot wide open. So the troublesome old woman _had_ seen her leaving.

"Oh? Right, she was the one that dropped by to tell me about work." he replied coolly. This was going somewhere, and Shikamaru did _not _want to deal with it at this particular second.

"She was muttering to herself about being an idiot for even bothering you." she was smiling slightly. What was she getting at?

"O-kay?" He replied, looking quizzically at the woman.

"You should talk to her! She'd make a fine wife! I think she likes you!" The woman exclaimed, slamming her palm down on the table.

Temari? His wife? She was joking right? She didn't like him at all. She probably had people trying to marry her left and right back home in Suna. It's true they worked together and that they were great friends but he didn't think that she would even _begin _to think of him in that way.

"She reminds me a lot of myself, that woman. I've spoken to her a few times." his mother commented. His eyes nearly bulged out of his head. She had _spoken _to Temari? He was dead. His mother probably talked all about him in a desperate attempt at grand kids. He coughed, Temari? Like his mom? Eeew.

"Mom, thanks for the help, but I seriously don't need my _mother _to try to win girls for me." He mumbled, slightly irritated, but he smiled slightly at his mother. Giving up on going back to sleep, Shikamaru stood up, thanked his mother for the tea and went to change.

o.0.o.0.o.0.o.0.o.0.o.0.o.0.o.0.o.0.o.0.o.0.o.0.o.0.o.0.o

Shikamaru sighed a deep and heavy sigh, troublesome. He plugged his headphones into his music player and pressed play. He laid down on the fresh grass, somewhere in the forest of Konoha.

He needed to get away, so, he did what he usually does. He watches the clouds. He just watched as the fluffy, white clouds floated freely all through Konoha. He wanted to be able to _think_ for _five_ minutes without his mind wondering to that particular face appearing behind his eyelids. In spite of himself he smirked. Troublesome woman. He turned up the volume and let the music drown out any of the remaining distractions of that particular afternoon.

Shikamaru wasn't all that picky about music. It, like most people, varied with his moods. Today, however was a rock day, well pretty much anything _loud_. That was Temari's favorite kind of music. His mind wandered... her face appeared, her troublesome, smug smile, as if she had you all figured out. Her blond hair pulled up into their usual four pigtails, her laugh, the way her eyes softened when she did so, the way she determinedly squinted those very eyes when she was about to kick some poor guy's ass. No matter how troublesome, he loved it all.

The dark haired chuunin was on the verge of falling asleep when he realized he was _thinking_ about _her. Again._ He didn't mind though, the beautiful, smug, troublesome woman was practically living behind his eyelids. The woman was making trips to Konoha every _month_. He always found himself looking forward to meeting the woman at the main gates. As much as he found it troublesome, it also made him happy. As her visits rolled around, Ino could even see a difference in him. She had begged him on multiple occasions to say what/who he was smiling about. He wasn't an idiot, you don't tell Ino _anything_ unless you wanted all of _Konoha_ to find out. She would be leaving soon though, she would be gone for at least a month. He hated to see her go.

His mind pondering all this, he realized, as troublesome as it is. He loved Temari. He realized he would do anything for her, as much as he hated doing _anything_. As much as she annoyed him. He wanted her happiness above anything else. Somewhere between the heartfelt hellos when they met at the gates to the late nights laughing over paper work, to when she was about to depart back home, Shikamaru felt a tug in his chest that he couldn't, even with an IQ of over 200, name. Yes, he thought, somewhere along the line, he, Nara Shikamaru, fell in love.

"Troublesome." He muttered. "Damn woman." He closed his eyes, waiting for sleep to crash over him, which it did within minutes.

o.0.o.0.o.0.o.0.o.0.o.0.o.0.o

He was awoken by a very annoying, persistent jabbing in his side. He sighed. He didn't even need to open his eyes. It was the tip of a particularly large _fan_.

_Seriously?_, he thought, I come all the way out here to get _away_ from the woman, and yet, she found me. How troublesome. He opened his eyes to find Temari crouching over him, a wide smiles playing on her lips. He all but jumped out of his skin. She was _two_ inches away from his _face._ Her lips pulled into an even larger grin of success. She's so cute when she smiles like that,He thought.

"Hey." She continued to grin. Shikamaru couldn't help but smile himself.

"Hey. Uh... do you mind?" He asked. Not only was Temari ridiculously close to his face, but she was crouching directly over him. This time it was his turn to grin with success. As he was pretty sure he saw her blush as she mumbled and apology, and got up.

"You woke me up." He stated bluntly after a few moments.

"That I did. This is for you. It's some paperwork you forgot to fill out I guess?" Temari shrugged nonchalantly before handing the scroll out for Shikamaru to take. He sat up lazily. Before he could reach out for the scroll, Temari jerked her hand holding the scroll away. She started to laugh. Nearing on hysterics.

Troublesome, he thought. Why was she laughing. "What is it?" He asked, his face pulling into a confused expression. But still trying to sound as bored as possible.

"Your. Hair." She choked out, holding her stomach as she doubled over in laughter.

He stood up, pulling out his now silent headphones and putting them away. He walked over to a river that was conveniently nearby.

His face twisted into many emotions as he saw the current state of his hair. Troublesome, he thought. His hair was sticking up in various directions. Most of it sticking in gravity defying positions. He couldn't help but chuckle slightly himself. His hair did this in mainly two situations: Either he slept with his hair up, or he was having a really weird dream.

Just like the dream that morning, Shikamaru never really remembered his dreams but he had a feeling, like he was trying to remember _something_, but never totally remembered.

"Troublesome." he muttered before wetting down his gravity defying hair and putting it back into its usual pony-tail. Doing anything else was too much work. When he was done, he looked up to find the blond woman, once again, very close to him. He tried to keep his eyes from widening a little in shock. He failed, and she smirked ever so slightly.

"Here," She said, "You missed a spot." she murmured, tugging on the small piece of hair he missed. His eyes shot up to hers and her dark green eyes met his even darker brown ones.

He wanted, more than anything in the world at that exact moment, to kiss the jounin from Suna. So... swallowing any remainder of fear he had left, he did.

She smelled like the sun, her lips warm against his. He expected her to stop, pull away and slap him. Of course, this particular woman had a way of proving him wrong. So he shouldn't have been surprised when she wrapped her arms around his neck, but he still was. His hands somehow found their way to her waist and pulled her even closer, he could feel her smile slightly as she deepened the kiss, her lips eagerly searching his. He didn't even realize it, but a small growl erupted in his throat. Temari took that as a good sign and deepened the kiss. Shikamaru's hands searched up and down her waist and back. Temari's hands were secured around his neck, until they traveled up and pulled his hair out of a ponytail, and lacing it in her hands. He tried to capture everything, attempting to retain it to memory. Her taste, especially that, he thought. She tasted like vanilla, light at sweet. Eager for more, he pulled his lips apart and traced her bottom lip with his tongue, begging for entrance. She happily complied, seeming just as eager.

He lost track of time, hell, he forgot his own name at that point. But he did notice the burning sensation in his lungs. He needed air, and soon. He pulled away, but still stayed close. Resting his forehead against hers. He noted how well the bright pink suited her face. Her eyes were wide, as if she was just realizing what happened.

"Shikamaru." She murmured, closing her eyes.

"Yeah?" He replied, watching her expression carefully.

"I have a confession to make." She sighed. Her cheeks deepening in color. What was she talking about? His heart raced, preparing for rejection. He _knew_ that she didn't feel the same way. But still, he kept a level head.

"Hm? What is it?" He asked, still staring deeply at her face. How she finally looked up to meet his gaze. She reached behind her and pulled the scroll of paperwork. Uh, what? He was confused now. What did paperwork have to do with this? Without saying a word, she handed over the scroll, he quickly broke the seal, his eyes wide, preparing for something.

Nothing.

The scroll was empty. There wasn't anything on it.

Shikamaru was even more confused. She brought him a scroll... for paperwork.

Oh.

_She _brought him a scroll. There was never anything he needed to do. He figured she needed an excuse.

"Very informational. Thanks for sharing this with me, Temari." he joked, closing the scroll again.

Her eyes widened before she grinned, shrugging.

"Anytime."

The sun was starting to set, the sky was on fire with bright pinks, dark purples and clouds that made the whole sky look like a batch of cotton candy. Shikamaru always enjoyed this time, it seemed peaceful. He looked over to see Temari looking up, leaning back on her arms, looking up. The last glow of the day shined on her features. At that moment, he had never thought something was so... right, then that moment. That exact moment.

She looked back at Shikamaru, her head tilted in thought before something in her eyes flashed, something like self-assurance. "Shikamaru I- " Temari started, but he cut her off.

"I know." He smirked. And, he meant it. She didn't have to talk. Silently, Temari scooted over and rested her head on his chest. He kissed her hair gently, as he slid his arms around her waist, a silent promise to never let her go. They silently watched in awe the bright pink of the sun collide with the deep green of the forest of Konoha as it fell behind the horizon.

They didn't even realize they fell asleep until the next morning.

"Hey." Temari smiled, turning around, facing a very sleepy looking Shikamaru.

"Morning." He replied, not helping but smiling himself.

He wondered what would happen from here. Was she going to pretend like nothing happened? Or were they together? Both options had various pros and cons that Shikamaru took into consideration. But in the end, he could only come to one; He loved Temari, and for now, that's all that mattered.

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Thanks so much for reading! Please let me know what you think! ^_^

~Allie


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